DECEMBER 2024
The Underdog Superpower
Embracing Tactics That Work in an Adversary’s Near Abroad
By Scott Pence
I
n August 2024, former vice president Mike Pence and Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation
argued in the Washington Post that the United States has a duty to defend Taiwan. They
praised the United States’ role as a global superpower and asked, “What is distance to a global
superpower?...America remains the world’s only true superpower, fully capable of projecting forces
to every corner of the earth.” While the authors are correct about the United States’ dominant global
role, they understate the operational complexity of applying military power in an adversary’s backyard.
This issue is important to consider, given that support from the American public for defending Taiwan
is higher now than it has ever been. This public favor should be tempered by military professionals
and policymakers, as operations within range of China’s defense forces present challenges that the
U.S. military has not dealt with in generations. With that in mind, the decision to commit forces to a
Taiwan conict should not be made hastily. While many tools are available, a wise superpower employs
the tactics that have the highest odds of success. A superpower’s relative power when operating in an
adversary’s backyard is less than its absolute power globally. If military action is required in China’s
backyard, the United States cannot expect to ght like a dominant power, achieving an overmatch and
winning handily. Instead, it will need to adopt the agile tactics of an underdog.
After decades as a superpower, the United States is unaccustomed to being on the weaker side of a
conict. In 1991, in response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the United States demonstrated
its vast power projection and decisively defeated the Iraqi army in days. During the Global War on
Terror, the United States crossed land and sea without interference to support operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Today, in Syria, a U.S. special forces team leader can destroy ISIS strongholds with
precision and without endangering himself or his team. These displays of battleeld superiority have
While many tools are available, a wise superpower employs the
tactics that have the highest odds of success.
